North Dakota Turkeys: The Nonresident Challenge

It’s difficult to debate that the U.S. Super Slam is the toughest turkey hunting quest, but something I hear being debated often is the toughest state to check off the list. North Dakota might be the most difficult in the quest for 49.

However, hunting the Peace Garden State isn’t an impossible task. Here’s a brief primer to get started.

Getting a nonresident license in North Dakota is the first hurdle. The state can’t issue enough tags for all the residents who want to hunt and manage the resource at a sustainable level, so opening the season to nonresidents would take away opportunities for residents. North Dakota’s spring season runs from early April through mid-May and is only open to residents via a lottery. It’s the only state that doesn’t offer nonresident spring hunting. North Dakota has a fall season, which opens in early October and is a lottery draw for residents. If licenses remain after the drawing, they become available to nonresidents. Many zones see resident application numbers of more than double the tags available, so the odds of a nonresident getting a license in fall are low.

An auction held by the NWTF North Dakota State Chapter offers another option to get a nonresident tag. The chapter auctions a few nonresident spring licenses, which are donated by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. All the money raised goes back into conservation work within the state. It’s a great opportunity for nonresidents, but many people chase those coveted tags, and they’ll cost a pretty penny. Watch the North Dakota Chapter’s Facebook page or the events sections on the NWTF website for info on the auction, which typically closes in February.

The last nonresident option is to purchase a license from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The reservation’s game and fish agency offers 600 spring licenses and 500 fall tags for nonresident, nontribal members. These licenses are easily attainable, but folks can encounter a plethora of other hurdles when hunting the North Dakota portion of the Standing Rock reservation.

“The bird numbers are good, but they see a lot of pressure,” said Chuck Miner, an officer with Standing Rock Game and Fish.

Jeff Kelly, the agency’s director, said turkey licenses don’t always sell out, but it’s typically close. He added that many of the birds harvested come from the South Dakota section of the reservation. Standing Rock covers more than 2.3 million acres, but less than half of that is Indian-owned trust land, and portions of that are inaccessible because they’re landlocked by nontribal lands. And you simply cannot get permission for some other plots. If you cut that acreage in half, because about half the reservation is in North Dakota, you’re left with roughly 450,000 acres to play with — and most of that doesn’t have a tree on it.

When you have a license, finding birds in North Dakota isn’t that difficult. In fact, along the river valleys, tributaries and coulees, birds seem to be everywhere. It’s not uncommon to see a gobbler in strut within the city limits of dozens of North Dakota’s quaint little towns. On the reservation, which borders the Missouri River, birds are abundant. Almost every bottom or coulee holds turkeys, and if you can access the land, you’ll likely luck into a bird. If you need assistance, the NWTF North Dakota State Chapter is a resource, and the folks at North Dakota Game and Fish are willing to lend a hand. Standing Rock Game and Fish recommends guides to cut the learning curve when hunting the reservation. This can also help with land access in many areas. Casper Thunder Hawk, of Fort Yates, showed my son and me around Standing Rock when we hunted there. Recommended guides can be found on the Standing Rock Game and Fish website, along with the license information and resources you will need to plan your trip.

When hunting North Dakota, you can expect long stretches of nothing followed by breathtaking buttes and color-splashed rock walls. The state is famous for being flat; be prepared to run out of breath on several walks pushing into prime turkey country. The hills, where they exist, are unforgiving, and the views get better with every step.

North Dakota also has an interesting mix of birds. The state has lots of Merriam’s, Easterns and hybrids, and there are spots with Eastern/ Rio Grande hybrids. The birds like to stay out of the wind, so you’ll often spot groups on slopes or in bottoms. Coulees and river edges are prime. Food isn’t hard for turkeys to find in North Dakota, as farming is a major way of life. Corn, soybeans, small grains and plenty of cattle and horse farms provide good year-round sustenance. Spring broods enjoy the vast prairies and overgrown river bottoms, where they can peck at anything from wood ticks and grasshoppers to snakes and small frogs. North Dakota is diverse.

According to biologists Clayton Lenk of the NWTF and Rodney Gross of North Dakota Game and Fish, many conservation efforts are happening in North Dakota, not only through the state and NWTF but also involving many NWTF partners. Easement efforts, habitat improvement and projects to restore degraded habitat continue statewide. North Dakota Game and Fish is even starting a turkey-specific research project, which will help biologists achieve a better understanding of the population in the state. Passing the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would also be promising for North Dakota. This legislation would substantially improve the ability of state and tribal wildlife agencies to increase conservation efforts. In North Dakota, that could include huge habitat restoration projects, tribal easements that would increase land accessibility and aid in research to see where birds need help.

So the future looks bright. Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll see a landscape or population change that opens a few more opportunities for nonresidents. Until then, North Dakota will remain in the conversation about the hardest state to check off the list in the quest for 49.